The Joys of Sign Language

I hope that the title is clear; I’ve found something positive to teach my aspie son.  Sign Language is a big victory for my aspie - while he is completely capable of well-structured speech (not all Aspies are) in multiple languages, I’m finding that teaching him ASL has been a great way for him to not only improve his overall communication skills, but also to help him grow his vocabulary and to allow him to convey ideas when he either doesn’t know what to say or when he goes into a non-verbal tantrum over something infinitely minor.

Is anyone else with an aspie child doing this?  I have been using the Signing Time video series by Rachel de Azevedo Coleman checked out from the local library in series.  It’s been amazing to watch him learn so quickly.  Like many aspies, he is particularly intelligent yet quite out of focus with his surroundings most of the time; however, he is able to tune in for these videos non-stop and he really gets a lot of enjoyment out of this series in particular.

Parents don’t neglect to watch the videos with your aspie long enough to learn the signs yourself.  You’ll be surprised at how easy ASL is to learn, and how effective it can be for helping you reach your sometimes unreachable child(ren).